DUSHANBE, October 11, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- President Emomali Rahmon and his Uzbek counterpart, President Islam Karimov, have reached an agreement on transit of Turkmen electricity to Tajikistan via Uzbek power systems during the winter months, according to presidential press service.  In Autumn-Winter 2008-2009,   

The agreement was reached during a meeting of the presidents of Central Asia’s states that was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on October 10.  The presidents of Tajikistan (Emomali Rahmon), Kyrgyzstan (Kurmanbek Bakiyev), Kazakhstan (Nursultan Nazarbayev), Turkmenistan (Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov) and Uzbekistan (Islam Karimov) attended the meeting. 

Cooperation in the fields of energy and water resources was the focus of the meeting and specific decisions were made on this issue, the press serve said.  

We will recall that on September 9-11, the Barqi Tojik power holding head Sharifkhon Samiyev, heading Tajik energy delegation, was in Tashkent to negotiate with Uzbek energy authorities the transit of Turkmen electricity to Tajikistan via Uzbek power systems during the winter months.  The sides agreed that Turkmenistan will start electricity supplies to Tajikistan after Uzbek specialists repair the 500-kV power grid Guzar-Regar.  The sides also discussed the volume of Uzbek electricity deliveries to Tajikistan in autumn-winter 2008-2009.  

Under an agreement between the two countries, Tajikistan supplies 900 million kWh of electrical power to Uzbekistan in summer in exchange for 600 million kWh of Uzbek electricity it receives during the winter months.     

During the past winter, Turkmenistan supplied some 1.3 billion kWh of electricity to Tajikistan via Uzbek power systems. In autumn-winter 2008-2009, Turkmenistan is expected to supply the same amount of electricity to Tajikistan.